How Shani Davis, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn are preparing the U.S. for 2018

Shani Davis and the U.S. speedskating team failed to medal in Sochi. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

The United States hasn’t been covered in gold, as it was in Vancouver. Through 11 days, the U.S. has won six golds, compared to a total of nine in 2010.

Americans winning gold so far have competed most in extreme sports that have their roots in the U.S. Slopestyle. Halfpipe. Though the U.S. has won at least one medal every day of the Sochi Games, the “Star-Spangled Banner” hasn’t been played that often.

Americans could win gold in women’s — the championship game against Canada is Thursday at noon — and men’s hockey. It has a good shot in four-man bobsled, women’s bobsled and women’s slalom.

Still, it’s fair to ask: Should we be worried?

Has the United States Olympic Committee failed?

Are the national governing bodies that help train and select our Olympics athletes not doing enough?

Those concerns are unfounded, though. This is merely a kink in the natural rhythm of the Olympics.

For the U.S., Sochi is the tweener Olympics. In nearly every sport, the U.S.’s best were too old, too injured or too green.

Lindsey Vonn’s ACL tear kept her from Sochi; she won gold and silver in Vancouver.

Bode Miller’s performance in the downhill was a shadow of what he was capable of in previous games — in which he won a golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

But on the women’s side, the biggest gold medal hope now rests on 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin. That’s a lot to ask. Miller didn’t win an Olympic medal until he was 23; four years later, he was shut out in Turin.

The same is true for men’s figure skating. Evan Lysacek won gold in 2010. He tried to make it back to Sochi, but a hip injury kept him from doing the triple and quadruple jumps required to compete. Without Lysacek, the U.S. leaned on Jeremy Abbott, who left his best stuff on the ice at nationals in both 2010 and 2014, and Jason Brown, a 19-year-old who performed well but didn’t have the difficulty required to compete with the sport’s best.

Shaun White and Shani Davis were both after the same goal. Each was aiming to win the third gold in a row in their respective event. Age, changes in training, and problems with the competition surface kept both men from becoming the first American to achieve that feat in the Winter Olympics.

Davis and White’s teammates — not that Davis and White — found little success. No American won a medal in the halfpipe or in any speedskating event. Both teams have to figure out what’s next, and learn from this disaster of an Olympics.

And as the U.S. starts to make sense of this Olympics, of the puppies and the ice dancers and the bizarrely warm weather, one theme will emerge. The experience gained now will make a huge difference in Pyeongchang in four years.

At the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the U.S. won 13 medals, with six gold. There were two speedskating medals and one Alpine skiing medal. In figure skating, two entries finished in fourth.

By the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, the U.S. had learned from their mistakes. Team USA won 34 medals, including 10 golds, and found success in bobsled, Alpine skiing, short track speedskating and skeleton.

Dips in performances are not a bad thing. In four years, this disappointing showing could pay dividends.